Say My Name: China's Economy Cookin' Up Trouble Thanks to Trade War Tariffs

Tread Lightly: The Tariff Trainwreck

So the geniuses in Washington decided to slap tariffs on Chinese goods. Brilliant! It's like they WANT a trade war. Now China's got all these products nobody in the US can afford (thanks to those *cough* brilliant *cough* tariffs) and they're trying to shove it all down their own throats. A man provides you see even if it means a fiery economic explosion. The Chinese government is scrambling local businesses are in panic mode and I'm sitting here thinking 'This is just the beginning.'

55% OFF? That's Insane!

JD.com Tencent Douyin? Who are these guys? Some kind of new cartel? They're practically giving away goods with discounts up to 55%. It's like a blue meth sale but instead of cooking it's economics... or something. They're flooding the market and surprise surprise everyone's undercutting everyone else. Price wars they call it. Sounds like a free for all only with spreadsheets and spreadsheets... And that's not good.

Deflation? Is That a Chemical Compound?

Consumer price index? Producer price index? Sounds like something I used to cook up only this is about money not meth. China's slipping into deflation. The prices are dropping. Great for consumers right? Wrong. It means people aren't spending businesses are hurting and the whole thing is spiraling downwards. I know a thing or two about downward spirals believe me.

No Half Measures: The Job Market Mess

Goldman Sachs says 16 million jobs are at stake. Sixteen million! That's more than the population of some states. And these are the people making the stuff America used to buy. Now they're facing layoffs. It's like the dominoes are falling. One bad decision after another and boom! Everyone's screwed. A man opens his door and gets jobs and is employed and you think of me? No. I am the one who employs!

De Minimis? More Like De Minimum Wage!

So Trump ended the 'de minimis' exemption. Translation: Chinese e commerce companies can't sneak cheap stuff into the US anymore. Now these businesses are going belly up. It's survival of the fittest and a lot of these small businesses aren't exactly Heisenberg. They're more like… Gale Boetticher – smart but ultimately doomed. Unemployment's rising and everyone's pointing fingers.

Stimulus Package? I Prefer a Package of Cash

Everyone's screaming for a stimulus. Like that's the magic bullet. But China's playing it cool. Waiting to see if things get worse. Maybe they're hoping the whole thing just blows over. News flash: it won't. This is going to get messy. And when things get messy you need a Heisenberg to clean it up. Unfortunately I’m retired from the cleaning business. Still sometimes bad is the only way to do good.